Bag of Tricks
by Heather Unscripted
Summary: Comedy about Harry Potter and Co. at a Halloween party at Hogwarts. Just a oneshot.


**All right guys, this is my first ever little fanfic, so please, be honest whether you like it or not! This story was dreamt up as an idea by my friend Jess and I one day in a particularly boring day of Biology. She came up with it mostly, and we were going to have Ron eaten by a toilet, but in the end, this was our product. Alas, it makes no sense!**

Ron put the paper bag over Harry's head and laughed, "Great, Harry! No one will recognize you!"

"Give me a mirror, Ron." Harry said, his voice slightly muffled by the bag.

Hermione laughed and conjured one. "Ron's right, Harry, no one will recognize you!"

It was Halloween night and Hogwarts was having a costume party. While searching for a costume idea, Harry had stumbled upon the paper bag in the Room of Requirement one day while hiding from Filch. Ron had the brilliant idea of using it as Harry's costume. They had cut two holes for eyes and had painted on the rest of the face.

Harry laughed at his reflection in the mirror. His friends were right. He bet not one person would know it was him. And he loved that idea.

That night they had a great time. No one ever guessed that it was Harry under the paper bag. He talked to three people that night that had told him they were looking for Harry. They had never suspected that they were talking to him. Harry had laughed for a while over that.

He had even had somewhat of a civil conversation with Draco Malfoy. That had been a shock and completely unexpected. He had been getting some punch when Draco, dressed as a vampire, had come up and said he like the paper bag costume idea.

But, when he, Ron, and Hermione got back to the tower, Harry could not get the paper bag off of his head. "Uh, guys?" Harry said nervously. "This bloody thing won't come off," he told them.

"Are you sure, mate?" Ron asked. He tried to pull the bag off as well. He frowned, "You're right, it won't."

Now Hermione was concerned. "Hold on, I think I've read about this somewhere." She ran up to her room and when she came back she was carrying her textbook for Care of Magical Creatures. Ron looked at her as if she was crazy.

"A paper bag is a creature?" he asked. She just ignored him and began to furiously flip through its pages.

"Aha! Here it is!" she exclaimed after a couple minutes of flipping. "They're called a Bag of Tricks. When they are worn, they cannot be removed until it has done one of three things. One, force the person to admit their most embarrassing moment. Two, force the person into doing some kind of embarrassing act, or three, force them into finding their true love."

"True love?" Ron asked in disbelief. "What did they throw that one in for, for kicks?"

Once again Hermione ignored the red head. She looked at Harry, "Has it been telling you to do anything?" Harry shook his head. "Well then, your true love has to tell you they love you and then it'll come off."

Ron still looked confused. "Wait a minute. Why is it a creature?"

"Because Ron, nobody knows how they were created. And you can never tell when one'll show up. Nor can you distinguish it from a regular paper bag." Hermione explained.

"Oh."

"Now, this should be very easy. Ginny!" Hermione called. Ginny looked up from where she was sitting with some friends. "Come here!" Ginny got up and walked over to the trio. "Tell Harry you love him."

Ginny blushed scarlet but managed to stutter out the sentence. "H-Harry, I love you." Harry tried to pull the bag off, but it didn't work. Ginny fled back to her group of friends.

Hermione looked stumped. "I love you, Harry," she tried. Still nothing. She looked at Ron, "You try."

He looked appalled for a second but then shrugged his shoulders. "I love you, Harry." Harry shook his head.

"Still nothing," he informed his friends.

"Oh dear," Hermione muttered, more to herself. She looked at the clock. "We'd better go to Dumbledore about this. But, at this hour we'll need the Cloak."

Harry nodded and ran to his room to retrieve it. They left a very confused and embarrassed Ginny in the common room. "What's going on?"

The friends finally made it to Dumbledore's office 20 minutes later. Mrs. Norris had held them up on the third floor. She seemed to have gotten their scent and they had to hide for about 10 minutes until Filch called to her. They knocked. "Enter," a voice called. Making sure that the Headmaster was the only one in the office, they slid the cloak off.

"Ah, my young friends, how may I help you?" Dumbledore asked, a small smile on his face and his eyes twinkling, like usual. He probably already knew about their problem.

"Um, it's Harry, sir." Hermione explained. "We know that he's wearing a Bag of Tricks, and that he has to find his true love. But, it's not come off yet."

"Really?" Dumbledore said, with interest but a bigger smile. He did indeed already know of the problem. How did he always know what was going on?

They nodded. "Ron, Ginny, and I have all tried, and it's still stuck," she added.

"Hmmmm… Well, this may pose a problem to Mr. Potter's studies. I think I have an idea," the Headmaster said calmly.

"Well?" the three asked in unison.

"I will dismiss Harry from all classes this week. Everyday a different House will meet Harry in the library during their free times. One of the students will have to be his true love."

"But, what if it doesn't work?" Ron asked.

"Oh, it will. A Bag of Tricks only has power within the building that it is found in. That means that someone within this school building has to be Harry's true love." Dumbledore told them.

"I hope so!" Harry exclaimed.

"Now, off to bed, we'll start with Gryffindor tomorrow." Dumbledore said. He dismissed them and they headed back to the tower to get some sleep.

The next day after lunch, there was a steady stream of Gryffindor's in and out of the library. The twins were first in line, of course. "So, Harry, ten galleons it's Cho Chang!" Fred said in a singsong voice.

"Of course not!" George argued, "It most definitely must be Miss Patil!"

"Which one?"

"Why, both, of course!"

"Fred, George!" Hermione threatened, stepping towards them. From the look on her face, the Weasley boys could have sworn she was channeling Mrs. Weasley right then. They visibly gulped.

"Uh, we love you Harry, bye!" with that they both ran out of the library as fast as they could. However, none of the Gryffindor's were able to break the charm of the bag and Harry went to bed that night with it still on his head.

Wednesday afternoon, Dumbledore scheduled the Ravenclaw's. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were disappointed to see that none of them worked, not even Cho Chang.

Thursday, Hufflepuff's shuffled in and out of the library. By then, Harry wasn't expecting much. By this time he was just really bored. He was dreading Slytherin's turn. Nobody in there could possibly be his true love. Or, at least he hoped not. He prayed that a Hufflepuff would relieve him of his agony. However, none of them did.

The next day, Friday, Slytherin's filled the library, billowing in and out. They probably took lessons from Snape on how to do it properly, Harry mused. But, he was miserable. He wanted the stupid bag of his head, and he wanted it off now! He sat as Millicent Bulstrode, Marcus Flint (eewwww!), Pansy Parkinson, and others came in and went through the line. Even Crabbe and Goyle, without Malfoy for once.

Just as Harry was beginning to nod off, the last person in line stepped up and muttered, "I love you, Potter." Suddenly the bag seemed to loosen and it was lighter. Harry tugged it off in relief. He grinned. Until he saw who it was. Draco Malfoy. Then he ran, screaming, "NOOOOOO!" down the hall all the way to the Forbidden Forest.


End file.
